Even more on gas

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NATURAL GAS PRICES. SOURCE: MARKETS INSIDER

I grew up in Louisiana, USA, and I have a very soft spot for the state (motto: Thank God for Arkansas!). It has it’s problems, and my views is that it is partly due to the oil and gas industry, which has just such perverse effects. There are a lot of rich people in good times, and that trickles down some, but then there is a bust, and everyone gets poor. Right now we are coming off the fracking riches.

But because fracking has drastically changed the natural gas market in the US and driven down natural gas prices (see price chart on right), two companies have built LNG terminals in the state. One in Baton Rouge just signed a long-term contract with a new power plant in South Vietnam.

The contract with Delta Offshore Energy and the government of Bac Lieu province will be for 2 million metric tons of LNG annually for 20 years.

You can read a press release here about the project, which is expected to begin operations in 2023. Total capital invested is $4.3 billion according to this article.

So big investment in power plants in the south. Pretty interesting. Also shows how the US gas market is searching out new markets and is successful in finding them.

Natural gas is better for the planet than coal but not as good as renewables. But given that Vietnam is drastically increasing its greenhouse gas emissions at the same time it is suffering from climate change, this may be the only way to limit that increase.